NAICOM made this known in its 2012 Submission Status Report on Insurance Companies Financial Statements.

The defaulting firms risk cancellation of their operating licences, even as they are already in breach of last June 30 deadline for submission of accounts.

Section 26 of the Insurance Act, 2003, states: “Failure to file annual return constitutes a ground for cancellation of their operating and an insurer shall be deemed to have failed to file its annual returns if the provisions of the section are not met 12 months after the end of the financial year.”

However, 22 have submitted, but are yet to get the nod of the regulator. This is even as most of them have been on the awaiting list for over three months.

Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Fola Daniel has, however, criticised insurers who have not submitted their last year’s report, saying the companies might be sending a wrong signal to the industry.

The Commissioner, who spoke in Ilorin, assured that the industry is healthy, noting that the Commission would ensure that their investments erre not jeopadised.

Deputy Manager, Supervision, NAICOM, Cyprian Amadi, said insurers refused to be carried along by the Commission in the transition to the IFRS.

He accused insurance firms of submitting poorly prepared statements.

He said: “NAICOM made series of efforts to ensure that insurance companies buy into the IFRS mandate, but the indifferent attitude of these insurers frustrated all their efforts.

“We took time to train insurance companies on IFRS but they still did not get it right when they started submitting their financial statements.

“Some of them have refused to do what is right. They keep submitting accounts that the figures do not add up. Some also employ the services of consultants who only copied what was written in textbooks without any practical experience. These consultants have not been involved in practical IFRS transition as such cannot get it right and such attitude does not help anybody.”